


The Obligatory 50th Rewrite

by totalnovaktrash



Series: A Different Story [15]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Eleventh Doctor Era, Episode: The Day of the Doctor, Gen, Original Character(s), Rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-16 13:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10572393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totalnovaktrash/pseuds/totalnovaktrash
Summary: AKA Homecoming Part 3. The coordinates given to her by the TARDIS land Lilithanadir on Gallifrey outside a barn where a Time Lord is preparing to detonate the Moment.





	1. Chapter 1

“Time Lords of Gallifrey, Daleks of Skaro, I serve notice on you all. Too long I have stayed my hand. No more. Today you leave me no choice. Today, this war will end. No more. No more.”

The War Doctor, the Warrior, shifted the sack he was carrying on his back and entered a barn. He put down the sack and revealed a brass inlaid clockwork box.

“How, how do you work? Why is there never a big red button?” he grumbled.

Then, he heard someone outside the barn loudly swearing in Gallifreyan. “Oh, you’ve _got_ to be kidding me!” a voice shouted. “Damn you, you stupid machine!”

“Hello? Is somebody there?” The Warrior went over to the door and opened it. A girl wearing a blue turtleneck tank top and jeans from the 21st century stumbled in.

“I thought I was done with this,” the girl moaned.

“Done with what? Who are you?”

She pushed a strand of long ginger hair out of her face. “Name’s Lilith. But that doesn’t matter. I was just trying to get home, but she sent me here.”

“Who sent you here?” the Warrior questioned.

“The TARDIS, who else would meddle this much?” Lilith huffed.

The Time Lord crossed his arms. “You need to leave. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Yes, she should.”

The two Gallifreyans turned to see who spoke. A blonde woman who looked exactly like Rose Tyler was sitting on the clockwork box.

“Don't sit on that!” The Warrior grabbed Rose’s arm.

“Why not?” Rose asked, genuinely confused.

“Because it's not a chair, it's the most dangerous weapon in the universe!” He hurried her from the barn and closed the door behind her.

Lilith had to hold back a snicker when, a moment later, her mother appeared again. She was still sitting on the box. “Why can't it be both? Why did you park so far away? Didn't you want her to see it?”

“Want who to see?” the Warrior questioned.

“The TARDIS,” Rose said quietly. She stood. “You walked for miles, and miles and miles and miles and miles.”

“I was thinking.”

Rose spun around. “I heard you.”

The Warrior frowned. “You heard me?

“No more,” she said in a low-pitched voice. “No more. No more. No more.”

“Stop it,” he insisted.

“No more,” she said one more time.

Lilith snickered and the Warrior glared at her. “Who are you? Who are either of you?” The clockwork in the box made a noise. “It's activating. Get out of here.” He tried to take hold of the box. “Ow!”

Rose hopped up to sit on a table. Lilith took a seat next to her. “What's wrong?”

“The interface is hot.”

“Well, I do my best.” Rose smirked.

“There's a power source inside,” the Warrior continued to inspect the box.

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Penny in the air…” she muttered.

The Warrior looked up at Rose “You're the interface?”

“They must have told you the Moment had a conscience.” Rose— the Moment— waved cheerily. “Hello! Oh, look at you. Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh, Doctor?”

“You know me?”

“I hear you,” the Moment corrected him. “All of you, jangling around in that dusty old head of yours. I chose this face and form especially for you. It's from your past.” She frowned. “Or possibly your future. I always get those two mixed up.”

“I don't have a future,” the Warrior said, curtly.

The Moment raised her eyebrows. “Then how does she exist?” She motioned to Lilith.

Lilith cleared her throat. “Now’s not really the best time to talk about my identity. Or why I exist. I _really_ don’t like to think about that.”

“Who are you?” the Warrior asked again.

“I think I'm called Rose Tyler. No. Yes. No, sorry, no, no, in this form, I'm called Bad Wolf.” Her eyes glowed slightly when she said those two words. Lilith shivered. “Are you afraid of the big Bad Wolf, Doctor?”

“Stop calling me Doctor,” the Warrior snapped.

“That's the name in your head.”

“It shouldn't be. I've been fighting this war for a long time. I've lost the right to be the Doctor.”

His words made Lilith’s hearts ache. She wanted to reach out to him, but she knew that would probably just make things worse.

“Then you're the one to save us all,” the Moment said.

The Warrior nodded. “Yes.”

“If I ever develop an ego, you've got the job.”

Lilith couldn’t hold back a giggle. “His ego is bigger than his head in my time.”

The Warrior ignored her. “If you have been inside my head, then you know what I've seen. The suffering. Every moment in time and space is burning. It must end, and I intend to end it the only way I can.”

“And you're going to use me to end it by killing them all, Daleks and Time Lords alike,” the Moment confirmed. “I could, but there will be consequences for you.”

“I have no desire to survive this,” the Warrior said.

“Then that's your punishment. If you do this, if you kill them all, then that's the consequence. You live,” the Moment decided. “Gallifrey. You're going to burn it, and all those Daleks with it, but all those children too. How many children on Gallifrey right now?”

He sat on the other side of the Moment. “I don't know.”

“One day you will count them. One terrible night. Do you want to see what that will turn you into? Come on, aren't you curious?” A whirling portal opened above them. “I'm opening windows on your future. A tangle in time through the days to come, to the man today will make of you.” A red fez dropped through the portal. “Okay, I wasn't expecting that.”

Lilith groaned. “Well, that settles it. I know who’s on the other side of that time fissure.”

“Who?” the Warrior asked, curiously.

“Your eleventh incarnation,” she said with a sigh. “My father.”


	2. Chapter 2

The Warrior landed on his feet. 

“Anyone lose a fez?” the Warrior asked, holding up said hat.

“You,” the Tenth Doctor said. “How can you be here? More to the point, why are you here?”

The Warrior clasped his hands behind his back. “Good afternoon. I'm looking for the Doctor.”

“Well,” Ten drew out the syllable, “you've certainly come to the right place.” 

“Good. Right. Well, who are you boys? Oh, of course. Are you his companions?”

Lilith fell out of the time fissure and landed on her face. “I prefer my vortex manipulator,” she groaned as she got up.

Ten’s jaw dropped and the Eleven’s eye widened. “Lilith?” they both exclaimed.

She frowned. “Dad? What are you doing here?”

“I could ask the same of you!” Eleven said.

“I was trying to get home. I used technology from the Torchwood archives to build a TARDIS tracker, but it led me to big ears and leather. His TARDIS gave me a set of coordinates and told me that it would take me to you. Except instead, I ended up with him,” Lilith explained, jerking her thumb at the Warrior. “Then the time fissure opened and a fez fell out of it and I thought ‘Hey, a fez! It must be Dad!’ so I followed him when he jumped into it.”

“You called them both Dad,” the Warrior realized. Both Ten and Eleven held up their sonic screwdrivers. “Really?” 

“Yeah,” Eleven said.

“Really,” Ten agreed.

“You're me? Both of you? Even that one?” the Warrior looked to Eleven. 

Eleven raised his non-existent eyebrows, insulted. “Yes!” 

“You're my future selves?”

“Yes!” Ten, Eleven, and Lilith shouted.

“Am I having a midlife crisis?” the Warrior stepped forward and the two other Doctor stepped back, pointing their respective screwdrivers at the third. “Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols. Look like you've seen a ghost.”

“Still,” Ten said, “loving the posh gravelly thing. It's very convincing.” 

Eleven scoffed. “Brave words, Dick van Dyke.”

Lilith rolled her eyes. “You do realize that you’re attempting to insult  _ yourself _ , right Dad?”

A troop of soldiers ran up, led by a nobleman. “Encircle them. Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head.” 

“Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day,” the Warrior said.

“A think there’s three of them now,” a voice whispered from above their heads.

“There’s a precedent for that,” another replied.

The nobleman jumped back. “What is that?” The two older Time Lords pointed their screwdrivers at him. 

“Oh, the pointing again,” the Warrior scoffed. “They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?”

“Nope.” Lilith popped the p. “They still don’t do wood.”

“That thing,” the nobleman pointed at the time fissure. “What witchcraft is it?” 

Eleven flipped his sonic. “Ah, yes! Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft. Yes, yes, yes. Witchy witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there. Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?”

“Why am I the witch?” the first voice demanded.

“Clara!” Lilith exclaimed, happily.

“Lilith? Is that you?”

“Clara, hi, hello. Hello,” Eleven cut in. “Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?”

“What… he said.” Clara clearly thought Eleven was being ridiculous. Lilith agreed.

“Yes, tiny bit more color,” Eleven hissed. 

Lilith could practically see Clara roll her eyes. “Right. Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs.”

“Ooh, frogs. Nice. You heard her.” 

Clara sighed. “Doctor, what's going on?”

“It's a timey-wimey thing,” Eleven said with a wave of his hand.

“Timey what? Timey-wimey?” the Warrior repeated.

“I've no idea where he picks that stuff up,” Ten whispered.

Lilith snickered. A woman in a regal dress approached. The soldiers fell to their knee. “The Queen. The Queen.” 

“You don't seem to be kneeling,” the Queen said to the four Gallifreyans. “How tremendously brave of you.”

“Which one are you? What happened to the other one?” Ten demanded. 

“Indisposed. Long live the Queen.”

“Long live the Queen,” the soldiers chanted. 

“Arrest these people. Take them to the Tower,” the Queen ordered. 

Ten put away his sonic and pointed at her. “That is not the Queen of England, that's an alien duplicate.”

“And you can take it from him, ‘cause he's really checked,” Eleven added.

“Oh, shut up,” Ten sighed.

“Venom sacs in the tongue.” 

“Seriously, stop it.”

Lilith scrunched up her nose. “Ew! Dad!”

“No, hang on. The Tower. Did you say the Tower?” Eleven said. “Ah, yes, brilliant. Love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?”

Lilith snorted.

“Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?” the Warrior asked Eleven.

“Yes,” he said, flapping his hands. “No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes, Granddad, and Ginger.” 

“Granddad?”

“What is it with you and my hair?”

“They're not sandshoes!”

The Warrior looked down at the shoes. “Yes, they are.”

“They’re Converse, actually,” Lilith said. “I bought them.” 

“Silence,” the Queen ordered. “The Tower is not to be taken lightly. Very few emerge again.”

“Well,” Lilith said as the guards grabbed them. “Since Nine isn’t here, I’ll be the one to say it. Isn’t this just  _ fantastic _ ?”


	3. Chapter 3

“Ow!” the Warrior exclaimed as the four of them were roughly shoved into a cell.

The jailer left, shutting the door behind him. Eleven picked up a piece of metal bar and started scratching on a stone pillar.

“Three of us in one cell? That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon.” Ten turned to look at Eleven. “What are you doing?”

Eleven gave him the dribbled-on-you-shirt look. “Getting us out.”

The Warrior was using his sonic screwdriver on the wooden door. Lilith sighed and shook her head.

“The sonic won't work on that, it's too primitive,” Ten said.

“Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?” Eleven asked, sarcastically.

“Okay, so the Queen of England is now a Zygon. But never mind that. Why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and Chinny, we were surprised, but you two came looking for us. You knew it was going to happen. Who told you?”

The Moment Rose appeared in the corner of the cell, holding a finger to her lips.

“Oi, Chinny?” Eleven protested.

“Yeah, you do have a chin.”

“Big ears, big hair, big chin.” Lilith ticked off on her fingers. “I wonder what’s next. Big eyebrows? It’ll make up for the fact that you’ve got none.”

Eleven glared at her. “They’re just delicate, Lilith.”

She smirked at him. “Whatever you say, Daddy Dearest.”

Eleven continued to scratch something into the wall. Lilith went over for a closer look and realized that they were coordinates.

“In theory, I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate,” the Warrior mused.

Ten dismissed the idea. “We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level. Even the sonic would take years.”

“No, no, the sonic would take centuries. Oh, we might as well get started. Help to pass the timey-wimey. Do you have to talk like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown up?”

“A wise man once said that there’s no point in growing up if you can’t act childish sometimes,” Lilith said. Eleven shot her a look that said ‘not the time’.

The Warrior sank onto a bench. “Oh, the way you both look at me. What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than dread.”

“It must be really recent for you,” Ten said, quietly.

“Recent?” the Warrior questioned.

“The Time War,” Eleven clarified. “The last day. The day you killed them all.”

“The day we killed them all,” Ten corrected.

Lilith slipped her hand into his and squeezed lightly.

“Same thing.” He went back to scratching.

“It's history for them,” the Moment said. “All decided. They think their future is real. They don't know it's still up to you.”

“I don't talk about it.”

“You're not talking about it. There's no one else here.”

“Gee, thanks, Dad,” Lilith muttered.

“Go on,” the Moment prompted. “Ask them. Ask them what you need to know.”

The Warrior hesitated. “Did you ever count?”

“Count what?” Eleven asked, not looking away from the pillar.

“How many children there were on Gallifrey that day.”

He stopped his scratching. “I have absolutely no idea.”

Lilith knew he was lying.

“How old are you now?” the Warrior questioned.

“Ah, I don't know. I lose track. Twelve hundred and something, I think. Unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am.”

Lilith shook her head. “You’re 1296.”

“Four hundred years older than me, and in all that time you've never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?”

“Tell me, what would be the point?” Eleven demanded.

“Two point four seven billion,” Ten said, darkly.

“You did count!”

Ten looked at Eleven angrily. “You forgot? Four hundred years, is that all it takes?”

“I moved on.”

“Where? Where can you be now that you can forget something like that?”

“Spoilers,” Eleven spat.

“No. No, no, no. For once I would like to know where I'm going,” Ten hissed.

“Well, you can't.”

“Would both of you just shut up!” Lilith shouted.

They continued to glare at each other.

“I don't know who you are, either of you. I haven't got the faintest idea,” the Warrior said.

“They're you. They're what you become if you destroy Gallifrey,” the Moment told him. “The man who regrets and the man who forgets. The moment is coming. The Moment is me. You have to decide.”

The Warrior went silent for a moment. “No.”

“No?” Ten repeated.

“Just, no.”

Eleven chuckled. Lilith smacked his arm.

“Is something funny?” Ten asked with a scowl. “Did I miss a funny thing?”

“Sorry.” Eleven scratched the back of his head. “It just occurred to me. This is what I'm like when I'm alone.”

“It's the same screwdriver,” the Moment said as Ten flipped his screwdriver in the air. “Same software, different case.”

The Warrior looked down at his own. “Four hundred years.”

Ten frowned. “Sorry?”

“At a software level, they're all the same device, aren't they? Same software, different case,” the Warrior repeated the Moment’s words.

“Yeah.”

“So?”

Lilith studied the Warrior. What was he thinking?

“So, it would take centuries for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door. Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and, if you really are me, with your sandshoes and your dickie bow, and that screwdriver is still mine, that calculation is still going on.”

Ten held his sonic up to his ear. “Yeah, still going.”

Eleven checked his. “Calculation complete.”

The Moment smiled. “Same software, different face.”

“Hey, four hundred years in four seconds. We may have had our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances, but I tell you what, boys. We are incredibly clever.” Eleven grinned. The door swung open and Clara came in. Eleven frowned. “How did you do that?”

“It wasn't locked,” she said.

Lilith burst into laughter. “That’s freaking brilliant!” she crowed.

Clara hugged the young Time Lady. “Good to see you again, Lilith.”

“Ditto, Clara.”

“So they're both the Doctor, then, yeah?”

“Yep.” Lilith nodded. “We've told you about Pinstripes. Don't you remember?”

Clara shrugged. “A bit.” She turned to Ten. “Nice suit.”

“Thanks.”

“Hang on.” Clara furrowed her eyebrows. “Three of you in one cell, and none of you thought to try the door?”

Lilith giggled again.

“It should have been locked,” the Warrior said.

“Yes. Exactly. Why wasn't it locked?” Eleven wondered.

The Queen entered. “Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping. I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you saw what's going to happen to it.”


	4. Part 4

Elizabeth led them to another part of the tower dungeons. “The Zygons lost their own world. It burnt in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required.”

“So they want this one,” Lilith guessed.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Not yet. It's far too primitive. Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort.”

“Commander, why are these creatures here?” a Zygon rasped.

“Because I say they should be. It is time you too were translated,” Elizabeth said, stiffly. The Zygon left. “Observe this. I believe you will find it fascinating.”

The Zygon put its hand on a glass cube with dents in the corners, and then vanished. The 3D landscape painting from the Under Gallery was nearby. 

“That’s him!” Clara gasped. “That's the Zygon in the picture now.”

“It's not a picture, it's a stasis cube,” the Warrior said. “Time Lord art. Frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside, but could be deployed as—” 

“Suspended animation,” Ten finished. “Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and then out they come.”

“You see, Clara, they're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like cup-a-soups,” Eleven explained, earning a strange look from his daughter. “Except you add time, if you can picture that. Nobody could picture that. Forget I said cup-a-soups.”

“And now the world is worth conquering. So the Zygons are invading the future from the past.”

“Exactly.”

“And do you know why I know that you're a fake?” Ten whirled on Elizabeth. “Because you're such a bad copy.”

“Dad…” Lilith warned. 

He ignored her. “It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close together, or the breath that could stun a horse. It's because my Elizabeth, the real Elizabeth, would never be stupid enough to reveal her own plan. Honestly, why would you do that?”

“Because it's not my plan. And I am the real Elizabeth.”

Lilith tried, and failed, to hold in her snicker.

“Okay. So, backtracking a moment just to lend context to my earlier remarks.”

“My twin is dead in the forest. I am accustomed to taking precautions.” She produced a dagger from the garter beneath her skirts. “These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived rather than their own commander. The arrogance that typifies their kind.”

“Zygons?” Clara asked.

“Men.”

“Ooh,” Lilith laughed. “I like her.”

“And you actually killed one of them?”

“I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon.” Elizabeth turned to Ten. “The future of my kingdom is imperiled. Doctor, can I rely on your service?”

“Well, I'm going to need my TARDIS,” Ten said. 

“It has been procured already.”

“Ah.”

Elizabeth grinned. “But first, my love, you have a promise to keep.”

Uh oh.

Less than an hour later, they stood in the castle courtyard. The wedding of the Tenth Doctor and Queen Elizabeth I. Ooh, wait until I tell Darkel, Lilith thought with glee.

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the clergyman said. 

“Woo hoo!” Clara cheered.

“You may kiss the bride.”

Elizabeth enthusiastically kissed Ten. 

Lilith made a retching noise. “This is so wrong, I can’t even put it into words.”

“Is there a lot of this in the future?” the Warrior asked.

“It does start to happen, yeah,” Eleven said.

“Just wait until you marry Mom,” Lilith giggled.

Elizabeth finally pulled back. “God speed, my love.”

“I will be right back,” Ten assured her. He sprinted into his TARDIS. The others followed. “Right then, back to the future.”

The Warrior looked around at the coral interior. “You've let this place go a bit.” 

“Ah, it's his grunge phase. He grows out of it,” Eleven said.

Lilith snorted. “You’re not even the one who picked the next desktop. The TARDIS did.”

Ten stroked the console fondly. “Don't you listen to them.” 

An alarm sounded and Ten jumped back after receiving an electric shock. “Ow! The desktop is glitching.”

“Three of you from different time zones. She’s trying to compensate,” Lilith said as the desktop changed to all white.

“Hey, look. The round things!” Eleven pointed out, happily.

“I love the round things,” Ten grinned.

“What are the round things?”

“No idea.”

Something started beeping. “Oh dear, the friction contrafibulator.” Eleven flicked a switch. “Ha! There, stabilized.”

The desktop changed to the one Lilith left behind decades before. 

“Oh, you've redecorated. I don't like it.” Ten’s scowl reminded Lilith of the Second Doctor.

“Oh. Oh yeah? Oh, you never do. Listen, we're going to the National Gallery. The Zygons are underneath it.”

“No, UNIT HQ,” Clara corrected. “They followed us there in the Black Archive.” All four Gallifreyans turned to look at her. “Okay, so you've heard of that, then.”

“It’s TARDIS proofed. We can’t land there,” Lilith spat. She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. “Dad, do you still have that Space-Time Telegraph?”

Eleven beamed. “My brilliant daughter!” He kissed her, and went about pressing buttons on the console.

“ _ You would destroy London? _ ” Kate’s voice came through.

“ _ To save the world, yes, I would, _ ” her voice replied. 

“ _ You're bluffing. _ ” Lilith made a face. That must be the Zygon. 

“ _ You really think so? Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. I am his daughter. _ ” 

“Science leads, Kate. Is that what you meant? Is that what your father meant?” Eleven said.

“ _ Doctor? _ ”

“Space-Time Telegraph, Kate. A gift from me to your father, hotline straight to the TARDIS. I know about the Black Archive and I know about the security protocol. Kate, please. Please tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid.”

“ _ I'm sorry, Doctor. Switch it off. _ ” 

“Not as sorry as you will be. This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with,” Ten warned her.

“Kate, we're trying to bring the TARDIS in. Why can't we land?” Eleven asked. 

“ _ I said, switch it off, _ ” Kate ordered.

“No, Kate, please. Just listen to me!” he pleaded.

Kate turned off the telegraph.

Ten crossed his arms. “The Tower of London, the whole place must be totally TARDIS-proof.”

“How can they do that?” asked Clara.

“Alien technology plus human stupidity.” Lilith laughed without humor. “Trust me, it's unbeatable.”

“We don't need to land.”

Everyone looked at the Warrior.

“Yeah, we do,” Ten said. “A tiny bit. Try and keep up.” 

“No, we don't. We don't. There is another way. Cup-a-soup.” The Warrior frowned. “What is cup-a-soup?”

Eleven sent the TARDIS into space and went for the door. Lilith grabbed his arm. “There’s a phone on the console, Dad.”

“Ah, right.” He dialed a number. “Take a look at your phone and confirm who you're talking to. You were just talking to me. I know. I'm a time traveller, figure it out. I need you to send the Gallifrey Falls painting to the Black Archive. Understood?” 

Lilith put her head in her hands. “Oh, this is going to get complicated.”


	5. Part 5

No one noticed as time began to move inside the 3D painting, which contained five extra figures by the image of an exploding Dalek. 

The Dalek in question was pushed out of the painting into the Black Archive, shattering the glass.

The five time travelers followed as the Dalek died.

“Hello,” said the Warrior

“I'm the Doctor,” said Ten.

“Sorry about the Dalek,” said Eleven.

Lilith snorted. “Show off.”

“Kate Lethbridge Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?” Eleven demanded.

“The countdown can only be halted at my personal command.” Kate crossed her arms. “There's nothing you can do.”

Ten got in her face. “Except make you both agree to halt it.”

“Not even three of you.”

“You're about to murder millions of people,” the Warrior warned.

“To save billions,” Kate argued. “How many times have you made that calculation?”

“Once.” Eleven’s voice was dark. “Turned me into the man I am now. I'm not even sure who that is any more.”

“You tell yourself it's justified, but it's a lie. Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong,” Ten continued in the same tone.

The Warrior glanced at the Moment, who was standing in the corner.

“And, because I got it wrong, I'm going to make you get it right,” Eleven said.

“How?” Kate questioned.

“Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown,” Ten told both Kates. “Both of you, together.”

“Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time.”

“Safeguards all round, completely fair on both sides.”

“And the key to perfect negotiation?”

“Not knowing what side you're on.”

“So, for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out.”

“No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human,”

“Or Zygon.” 

Ten and Eleven jumped onto the table. Their screwdrivers did something to the memory filter on the ceiling. The countdown reached seven seconds as the humans looked befuddled. 

“Cancel the detonation!” the Kates both cried. The countdown stopped.

“Peace in our time.”

As the two Kates spoke about the treaty, the two older Doctors watched over them. The Warrior went to sit in a big, leather chair. Lilith, who sat on the arm of it, was fairly sure it was once in the Seventh Doctor’s TARDIS.

Clara came over. “Hello.” 

“Hello.”

“I'm Clara,” she introduced, pulling over a chair. “We haven't really met yet.”

“I look forward to it,” the Warrior said. “Is there a problem?” 

“The Doctor, my Doctor, he's always talking about the day he did it. The day he wiped out the Time Lords to stop the war.”

“One would.”

“You wouldn't. You haven't done it yet. It's still in your future.” 

The Warrior raised his eyebrows. “You're very sure of yourself.”” 

“He regrets it. I see it in his eyes every day,” Clara said. “He'd do anything to change it.”

“Including saving all these people. How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think? Look over there. Humans and Zygons working together in peace. How did you know?” he questioned 

“Your eyes. You're so much younger,” she told him.

“Then, all things considered, it's time I grew up. I've seen all I needed. The moment has come.” He looked at the Moment-Rose. “I'm ready.” 

With sadness in her eyes, the Moment replied, “I know you are.”

Lilith held out her arm to the Warrior. “Time to head back, then?”

“You’re not coming with me,” the Warrior said.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I may not have been born yet in your timeline, but you’re still my father. I’m not leaving you alone.” Lilith took his hand and smiled lightly at him.

The Moment transported them back to the barn. The weapon was sitting there with an ironically rose-like button. The Warrior went over to it and Lilith stood at his side.

“You wanted a big red button,” the Moment said. “One big bang, no more Time Lords. No more Daleks. Are you sure?”

“I was sure when I came in here,” the Warrior said, firmly. “There is no other way.”

“You've seen the men you will become.”

“Those men. Extraordinary.”

“They were you.”

The Warrior shook his head. “No. They are the Doctor.”

“You're the Doctor, too,” Lilith said, gently.

“No. Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame, whatever the cost.” His hand hesitated over the button.

Before he could press it, the Moment spoke up. “You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning. That sound brings hope wherever it goes.” 

“Yes,” the Warrior agreed, “Yes, I like to think it does.” 

“To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone, however lost.” The sound of the time rotor echoed through the barn. “Even you.”

Two TARDISes materialized in the barn. Both Doctors and Clara stepped out. 

Lilith cocked her head to the side. “Dad?”

“Go away now, all of you. This is for me,” the Warrior said.

Ten looked around. “These events should be time-locked. We shouldn't even be here.”

“So something let us through,” Eleven guessed.

“You clever boys,” the Moment beamed.

The Warrior turned back to the box. “Go back. Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile.” He put his hand on the button.

“All those years, burying you in my memory,” Ten said.

“Pretending you didn't exist,” Eleven added. “Keeping you a secret, even from myself.”

“Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else.”

“You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right.” 

“But this time,” 

“You don't have to do it alone.” 

They put their hands on the button together. Lilith looked at all three of the Doctors and placed her hand on top of her father’s. “You’re never alone,” she said. “Not while I have a say in things.” 

“Thank you,” the Warrior whispered.

“What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way.” 

“And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save.” Eleven looked at Clara, who was shaking her head. “What? What is it? What?” 

“Nothing,” she said quietly.

“No, it's something. Tell me.”

“You told me you wiped out your own people. I just. I never pictured you doing it, that's all.” 

The Moment stood. “Take a closer look.” 

It suddenly went dark.

“What's happening?”

“It’s nothing, just a projection,” Lilith assured Clara. 

“It's a reality around you,” the Moment said. They were seeing Gallifrey at war. 

“These are the people you're going to burn?” Clara asked.

“There isn't anything we can do,” Ten said, sadly.

“He's right. There isn't another way,” Eleven agreed. “There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn.”

Lilith took Clara’s hand; she was crying. “Look at you, the three of you. The warrior, the hero, and you.” 

“And what am I?” Eleven questioned.

“Have you really forgotten?”

“Yes. Maybe, yes.”

“We've got enough warriors. Any old idiot can be a hero.”

“Then what do I do?” Eleven asked, quietly.

She looked down, then back up at him. “What you've always done. Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?” 

The fighting on Gallifrey seemed to have stopped. 

“Never cruel or cowardly,” Ten said.

“Never give up, never give in,” finished the Warrior.

The images vanished. 

Ten looked at the two other Doctors. “You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?”

“We change history all the time,” Eleven said. “I'm suggesting far worse.”

“What, exactly?” the Warrior questioned.

“Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind.” Eleven soniced the big red button back into the Moment box. 

The Warrior protested. “There's still a billion, billion Daleks up there, attacking.”

“Yeah, there is. There is,” Eleven nodded.

“But there's something those billion, billion Daleks don't know,” Ten said, catching on.

“Because if they did, they'd probably send for reinforcements.”

“What? What don't they know?” Clara asked.

Lilith beamed at her. “This time, there's three of him.” 

“Oh! Oh, yes, that is good. That is brilliant!” the Warrior cried.

Ten lit up. “Oh, oh, oh, I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!”

“Ha, ha, ha!” Eleven laughed. “I've been thinking about it for centuries!”

“She didn't just show me any old future; she showed me exactly the future I needed to see!”

“You’re going to love this.” Lilith whispered to Eleven.

“Now you're getting it.” The Moment grinned.

“Eh? Who did?”

“Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you!” the Warrior crowed.

The Moment smirked. “Yeah, that's going to happen.” 

Ten furrowed his brow. “Sorry, did you just say Bad Wolf?” he looked at Lilith. She winked at him.

‘ _ Your mother? _ ’ Eleven guessed.

‘ _ Bad Wolf. _ ’

“So what are we doing?” asked Clara. “What's the plan?”

“The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly,” the Warrior explained.

“The Sky Trench is holding, but what if the whole planet just disappeared?” Ten said.

Lilith’s caught on. “The Daleks would be firing on each other. They'd destroy themselves in their own crossfire.”

“Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other.”

“But where would Gallifrey be?” the human asked.

“Frozen,” Ten told her. “Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away.” 

Lilith’s eyes gleamed. “Exactly like a painting.”


	6. Part 6

“Hello, hello, Gallifrey High Command,” Eleven called from his TARDIS. “This is the Doctor speaking.”

“Hello! Also the Doctor,” Ten greeted from his. “Can you hear me?”

“Also the Doctor, standing ready,” the Warrior said from his spot next to Lilith.

“The Collector as well. Hi!” Lilith chirped.

“ _Dear Rassilon, three of them,_ ” one Time Lord, the General, moaned. “ _All my worst nightmares at once._ ”

“General, we have a plan,” Ten began.

“We should point at this moment; it is a fairly terrible plan,” Eleven continued.

“And almost certainly won't work,” Ten added.

“Really?” Lilith snorted.

“I was happy with fairly terrible,” muttered Eleven.

“Sorry, just thinking out loud.”

“We're flying our three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere,” Eleven told the Council.

“We're positioned at equidistant intervals around the globe,” Ten put in

“We're just about ready to do it,” the Warrior confirmed.

“Ready to do what?” the General questioned.

“We're going to freeze Gallifrey.”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“Using our TARDISes, we're going to freeze Gallifrey in a single moment in time,” explained Ten.

“You know, like those stasis cubes?” the Warrior offered. “A single moment in time, held in a parallel pocket universe.”

“Except we're going to do it to a whole planet.”

“And all the people on it.”

“What? Even if that were possible, which it isn't, why would you do such a thing?” the General demanded. 

“Because the alternative is burning,” Eleven said, seriously.

“And I've seen that,” ten nodded.

“And I never want to see it again.”

“We'd be lost in another universe, frozen in a single moment,” the General protested. “We'd have nothing.” 

“You would have hope,” Eleven corrected. “And right now, that is exactly what you don't have.”

“It's delusional! The calculations alone would take hundreds of years.”

“Oh, hundreds and hundreds,” the eldest Doctor agreed.

“But don't worry,” Ten said. “I started a very long time ago.”

“You might say I've been doing this all my lives.”

“Calling the War Council of Gallifrey. This is the Doctor.” The First Doctor.

“Good luck.” The Second Doctor.

“Ready.” The Fourth Doctor.

“Standing by.” The Third Doctor.

“Commencing calculations." The Eighth Doctor.

“Soon be there.” The Fifth Doctor.

“Across boundaries that divide one universe from another.” The Seventh Doctor.

“Just got to lock on to his coordinates.” The Sixth Doctor.

“And for my next trick.” The Ninth Doctor.

“I didn't know when I was well off. All twelve of them!” the General exclaimed.

“No, sir,” said another Time Lord. “All thirteen!” 

Lilith saw a thirteenth TARDIS join the rest of the group. She wondered if she was on that TARDIS too. 

“Sir! The Daleks know that something is happening. They're increasing their firepower.” 

“Do it, Doctor. Just do it,” the General said.

“Okay. Gentlemen, we're ready. Geronimo!”

“Allons-y!”

“ _ Vamanos! _ ”

“Oh, for God's sake. Gallifrey stands!” The Warrior pulled a lever.

All thirteen Doctors flew their TARDISes straight at the planet, surrounding it.

_ Here we go _ , Lilith thought.


	7. Part 7

The Doctors and Clara were all having tea in the Under Gallery. Lilith was leaning against the wall sipping a caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks. Three TARDISes were lined up by one wall. The opposite is decorated with a collection of roundels.

“I don't suppose we'll know if we actually succeeded,” the War Doctor mused. But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong.”

“Life and soul, you are,” Clara said.

“That’s his job.” Lilith took another sip of her drink and sighed. “It’s been over a decade since I last had one of these.

Clara laughed.

Both Ten and Eleven had their glasses on and were studying the painting. “What is it actually called?” asked Ten.

“Well, there's some debate,” Eleven said. “Either No More or Gallifrey Falls.”

“Not very encouraging,” the War Doctor muttered.

“How did it get here?”

“No idea.”

Ten took a sip of his tea. “There's always something we don't know, isn't there?”

“The day you know everything, you might as well stop,” Lilith said.

The War Doctor stood. “Well, gentlemen, it has been an honor and a privilege.”

“Likewise,” said Ten.

“Doctor,” said Eleven.

“And if I grow to be half the man that you are, Clara Oswald, I shall be happy indeed.”

“That's right. Aim high.” Clara kissed him on the cheek.

Lilith stood up and hugged him. “My younger self is waiting for you in your TARDIS,” she whispered in his ear.

The War Doctor nodded. “I won't remember this, will I?”

Ten and Eleven looked at each other. “The time streams are out of sync. You can't retain it, no.”

“So I won’t remember that I tried to save Gallifrey rather than burn it. I have to live with that.”

Ten smiled lightly. “You’ve got Lilith to pick up the pieces.”

“And Mom. You’ll have Mom too,” Lilith added.

“Yes, your mother. I look forward to meeting your mother,” said the War Doctor. “But for now, for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you.” He smiled. “Which one is mine?”

Lilith jabbed her thumb at the TARDIS on the right. “Probably the one that looks like she’s been through hell, poor girl.”

The War Doctor chuckled and went into his ship. The beat up TARDIS dematerialized.

“So Lilith,” Clara said, “where did you go after you traveled with him?” She was referring to Ten.

Lilith waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, closing a time loop or two. Or five. Eight, actually. Did you know I’ve met him in every one of his regenerations? It was really fun. I liked Turlough. And Ace was amazing, she said she'd teach me how to make Nitro-9.”

Eleven groaned. “If you teach your sister—”

“Don’t worry,” Lilith laughed. “The last thing we need is Darkel with explosives.”

“I won’t remember this either so you might as well tell me,” Ten said, taking off his glasses. Eleven looked up to say something; no doubt about Trenzalore, but Ten was addressing Lilith.

Lilith looked at her nails, innocently. “What are you talking about?”

“Your mother. I’ve blocked out the memories of any time you told me her identity. When will I find her?”

“Spoilers,” Lilith said vaguely. Ten pouted and she just laughed. “All I’ll tell you is this: you’ve got a good century left in the body. Don’t waste it.”

“And what about you?” Ten turned to Eleven. “Are you going to tell me where it is we’re going that you don’t want to talk about?”

After a moment of silence, Eleven spoke. “I've been hearing whispers about Trenzalore, where we’re buried. We die in battle, among millions.”

“That’s not how it’s supposed to be.”

“That’s how the story ends, nothing we can do about it. Trenzalore is where we’re going.”

Ten thought for a moment and glanced at Lilith. “Oh, never say nothing. Anyway, good to know my future is in safe hands.”

“It’s Mom who keeps him safe and he knows it,” Lilith whispered to Clara, who giggled and took another sip of tea.

“Keep a tight hold on it, Clara,” Ten said.

“On it,” Clara replied. He kissed her hand and walked over to this TARDIS

“Trenzalore,” he murmured. “We need a new destination because I don’t wanna go.”

Lilith made a squeaking noise that was covered by the TARDIS leaving. “That is the last thing I ever want to hear you say!” she said to the remaining Doctor.

“Why?” Clara asked.

“Last time that man said those words, I nearly died,” Lilith explained. “Never want to hear you say that,” she repeated, hitting the Doctor’s arm for emphasis. He just smiled at her. “What?”

“We’re linear.”

“I know.” Lilith hugged her father tightly. “There was an old man looking for you, by the way. I think it was the curator.” Her eyes sparkled knowingly. “Come on, Clara.”

And as she stepped into her linear TARDIS, euphoria swept over Lilith. She looked around and grinned.

_I’m finally home._


	8. Epilogue

The War Doctor stepped into his TARDIS and was greeted by someone he had never seen before.

He assumed it was Lilith.

She was slightly shorter than the Lilith he had just said goodbye to, her hair was brown and barely touched her shoulders, and her eyes were a chocolate brown. She wore a magenta dress that fell just below her knees and a denim jacket.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Lilith.”

“I know,” the War Doctor said. “I just met you.”

Lilith beamed. “Great! Did we go on an adventure? Was it fun?”

He laughed at her enthusiasm. “It was a bit timey-wimey.”

She grinned. “My whole life is timey-wimey.”

“If I forget everything that just happened,” the War Doctor wondered, “how will I know who you are?”

Lilith shrugged. “You won’t. Dad says I don’t tell you until you’re in your tenth incarnation. You apparently pass out after you regenerate and when you wake up, I’m going to tell you that you’re my uncle.”

The War Doctor frowned. “Why?”

“It just makes sense. The other Doctors are kinda like your brothers and I’m not your ninth self’s daughter, so I’m his niece. And speaking of your ninth self.” She nodded towards his hands, which had started to glow.

“Oh, yes. Of course, it makes sense. Wearing a bit thin.” The glow extended to his face. “I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time.”

“Don’t count on it, Dad.”


End file.
